Ultra Cello Practice Mute - Rubber
Medium-strong muting effect. Made of firm rubber material that provides a bit less clear tone than metal mute, but rubber has less risk to the instrument if the mute should fall off accidentally. Grips entire bridge.
What Should I Look For in a Mute?
All string players should have at least one mute, and there are three important factors to consider. First and foremost, ease of use. How quickly can the mute be put in place or removed? How important is this to you? Orchestral players sometimes only have one measure to install or remove a mute. Secondly, sound quality. The goal of the mute is to lower the volume only, not dampen the good quality of your instrument. Regarding overall sound quality, the degree to which a mute "rattles" when not in use but still on the strings between the bridge and tailpiece is important as well. Third is aesthetics. Truth be told, many players consider the importance of overall look and feel, trying a variety of mutes to find out what works and looks best on their instrument. Fortunately, mutes are not too expensive, so this is a relatively low cost endeavor.
Ratings & Reviews
Much quieter!
This mute reduces the sound more than I expected from it's reviews. Naturally the tone does suffer a bit but my purpose was to practice late in my apartment building. Excellent for this!
highly recommended for late-night practicers
I like this mute. It's made of flexible rubber. I have 2 cello's with different bridge sizes and it fits both well. It doesn't eliminate all sound but certainly makes it easy to "go all out" without annoying the rest of the household at 10 pm. Unfortunately, my dog destroyed my last one so I am back to get another.
Not what I was expecting.
Well, it certainly wasn't a practice type mute. My house mate could still hear me practicing in her room across the hall. It is equivalent to a normal orchestra mute. If i needed another orchestral mute, I would like it. Not so good for practicing with other people in the same area as you. But I needed a mute that wouldn't allow my house mates to hear me practicing late into the night. At least I tried it, and now I know.
Just ok
This is my first mute, so if they usually don't significantly muffle playing, I apologize for the poor review. I wouldn't recommend buying this, the sound reduction it offers is scant and not worth its price.